Law school was supposed to prepare Demetri Martin for a career in public interest law.

Instead, it prepared him for a career in comedy -- sort of.

Martin wasn't cut out for law school; he quit after his second year. But he was interested in the way lawyers manipulate language to achieve a desired outcome.

In the case of comedy, Martin wanted to make people laugh.

In one of his oldest and most famous jokes, the silly, yet scholarly comedian ponders the use of the phrase "sort of." Typically, he said, it's used as a "filler." But when placed at the end of a sentence, "It can mean everything."

"Like, after I love you. Or, you're going to live," he said during one of his many stand-up specials. "What I'm trying to say is, I went to law school -- sort of."

In a recent interview, the 40-year-old comedian, author and Yale University graduate, who is performing at Stamford's Palace Theatre on Thursday, May 15, talked about trading law school for comedy, the intersection between the two and choosing a process-oriented career over a results-oriented one.

Q: You traded law school for comedy, but was there any intersection between the two? Did the former help prepare you for the latter?

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A: I remember taking the LSAT (Law School Admission Test), and there was a game section of all these short riddles and fact-pattern things. It's all logic based. I don't think there was a cause and effect, but there was definitely an overlapping of interest. What attracts me to jokes and telling stories is the way you employ language. What attracted me to law school is what attracted me to comedy.

Q: Was comedy a way to escape the ennui of law school?

A: It happens to a lot of people their first year. There's a desire to do more creative things. I don't know if "oppressed" is the right word, but people need an outlet. The reaction is so strong. You're like, "I need out." Halfway through the first year, I thought I had made a mistake. But I didn't have any idea of what else to do. In New York, in the Village, I would walk past these clubs. It planted a seed. I didn't think (stand-up) was a viable career option, but it was something I wanted to try.

Q: You've talked about growing up in suburban New Jersey. You didn't know a lot of people pursuing creative careers. How did you break out of that mold?

A: I didn't live far from city, but in my town, most people didn't go up to the city. They weren't interested in other places. I'm not saying it was like that with everybody, just the circle I ran in. The Internet didn't exist. There weren't a lot of book stores. But getting to go to Yale gave me a chance. ... From there, I went to New York, and that really opened things up for me.

Q: Once you got to the city, how did you make the leap from law school to comedy?

A: I was restless in law school, so I started exploring New York. That really helped changed my expectations. When I left law school, I did temp jobs and I was on the subway for hours. I got a library card. The New York Public Library was a big deal for me. I was broke, so I couldn't buy books. The library was great because I got to read a lot. I read about creativity and the creative process, self-help books, stuff on the transcendentalists. Between being in New York, feeding my head with all this knowledge, having my little notebook and writing jokes, it helped me feel like a creative person. It helped give me a kick start. I started appreciating creativity and humor.

Q: What kind of outlet did comedy provide?

A: In school, I was on a treadmill. You want to get into this college, get a good GPA. It was very results oriented. But stand-up is a great teacher because the results are so varied, so unpredictable. In the same night, in the same room, you can have two different audiences and two different reactions to the same material. There's no rhyme or reason. It's hard to quantify. It's more about the process. In a way, it is results oriented -- it's about getting laughs. But it did enough for me that it kept me interested.